Round-the-Clock Purple and Gold

Darius Morris to play in exhibition games in Mexico

October 6, 2011 | 6:37
am

Darius Morris is about to break his routine of morning workouts at Loyola Marymount University and evening scrimmages at Costa Mesa High school.

The Lakers' rookie guard and former University of Michigan and Los Angeles Windward High product is set to fly to Mexico on Thursday morning to appear in a pair of exhibition games, according to his agent, Brian Dyke, who declined to say whether Morris would receive any compensation for the appearance.

The Times' Ben Bolch first highlighted the possibility that Morris would head south of the border, but Morris' plans then weren't definitive. The two exhibition games are scheduled to take place Thursday in Culiacan and Saturday in Najera, and various NBA players are also to participate in youth clinics beforehand. As first reported by Yahoo! Sports' Marc Spears, the list of players involved also includes the Clippers' DeAndre Jordan, Dallas' Tyson Chandler, New Orleans' Trevor Ariza, Portland's Marcus Camby and others.

"He just needs to get the feel of being a professional," said Tyrell Jamerson, a former UNLV guard who's trained Morris this summer. "He just needs to get his feet wet and get some time to get on the floor against professional players."